{"id":14381,"date":"2026-07-23T07:36:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T02:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=14381"},"modified":"2026-07-23T07:36:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T02:36:46","slug":"the-dccc-is-not-god-tensions-erupt-over-house-democrats-failed-primary-meddling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=14381","title":{"rendered":"&quot;The DCCC is not God&quot;: Tensions erupt over House Democrats&#039; failed primary meddling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/on35RN_WTbOcVQ0SSU1GsvR6090=\/0x1388:4000x3638\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/22\/1784755561824.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>House Democrats are demanding a reckoning after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent over $500,000 backing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/09\/democrats-primary-arizona-shah-galan-woods-dccc\" target=\"_blank\">candidate in Arizona<\/a> who is on track to lose her primary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>This is the third time in 2026 the House Democratic campaign arm has tried and failed to intervene in a party primary, leading some lawmakers to argue that its money is better spent elsewhere.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a top <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/11\/house-democrats-dccc-dues-aoc-jeffries-pelosi\" target=\"_blank\">DCCC dues payer<\/a>, said the party should be &#8220;rationing our resources to win general elections,&#8221; calling for &#8220;a conversation about &#8230; what the involvement in primaries looks like.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;That&#8217;s $100,000 that I put in,&#8221; Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said of her dues, arguing that the DCCC &#8220;shouldn&#8217;t be spending this money&#8221; on primaries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Driving the news: <\/strong>Former Arizona state Rep. Amish Shah led former TV journalist Marlene Gal\u00e1n-Woods in the Democratic primary in Arizona&#8217;s 1st district by roughly seven percentage points as of Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>With 87% of the votes reporting Gal\u00e1n-Woods &#8220;still has a chance&#8221; but &#8220;I would much rather be Shah than her,&#8221; one House Democrat who has followed the race closely told Axios.<\/li>\n<li>The DCCC ran a $514,000 joint ad buy with the Gal\u00e1n-Woods campaign after endorsing her as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/05\/04\/democrats-dccc-house-elections-2026-california\" target=\"_blank\">part of its &#8220;Red to Blue&#8221; program<\/a> in June, according to AdImpact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom out<\/strong>: This latest loss for the DCCC comes after it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/09\/democrats-house-primary-california-villegas-bains\" target=\"_blank\">fell short in California&#8217;s 22nd district<\/a>, where progressive activist Randy Villegas won in an upset over more moderate state Assembly member Jasmeet Bains in June.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Later that month, DCCC-endorsed state Sen. Joe Baldacci <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/19\/maine-2-primary-result-baldacci-wood-dunlap-dccc\" target=\"_blank\">lost to progressive rival Matt Dunlap<\/a> in Maine&#8217;s 2nd district.<\/li>\n<li>The DCCC ran roughly $250,000 in joint ad buys with Bains and Baldacci, according to AdImpact and other ad data viewed by Axios.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying: <\/strong>&#8220;Can you imagine if we&#8217;d put that $800,000 in the general election so we can win in November,&#8221; said Ramirez, adding, &#8220;I would recommend that we just don&#8217;t engage in primaries.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;I personally don&#8217;t think we should be investing against Democrats when we&#8217;ve got a big battleground,&#8221; Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.), who represents swing-district House Democrats in leadership, told Axios.<\/li>\n<li>Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-Ariz.) told Axios: &#8220;When we have caucus-funded organizations that are paid through dues, we should not be picking winners and losers among Democrats.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said he wants the DCCC to endorse Dunlap and other progressive candidates like Tom Periello, telling Axios: &#8220;We&#8217;ve got to really look not through a traditional prism but at candidates who can build a grassroots organization and speak to the times.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What we&#8217;re hearing: <\/strong>Behind the scenes, some of the DCCC&#8217;s top dues payers are even more livid. &#8220;People are mad,&#8221; a senior House Democrat told Axios.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Said one House Democrat who has paid all their dues: &#8220;I would prefer to see the dollars that I invest spent on candidates who won their Democratic primaries rather than have the DCCC inject themselves.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;The DCCC is not god,&#8221; The lawmaker added. &#8220;They cannot dictate outcomes. There needs to be an acknowledgement that there&#8217;s a limit to the ability of the DCCC to choose what it considers to be the perfect candidate.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Another House Democrat who is also paid up in full told Axios the DCCC &#8220;shouldn&#8217;t be taking a position in a primary unless everybody agrees, and I&#8217;m not aware anyone was consulted.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The other side: <\/strong>&#8220;We move onto the general. We&#8217;re going to win that general election, and we&#8217;re going to win the majority; that&#8217;s an incredibly important district to do it,&#8221; Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) told Axios.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stanton, a co-chair of the DCCC&#8217;s frontline program, vowed to &#8220;make sure we are not outspent in that race&#8221; come November.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;I have all the confidence in [DCCC Chair] Suzan DelBene to make the decisions she feels appropriate to take back the majority,&#8221; Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas) told Axios.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;At the end of the day, Democrats are united in our shared goal to flip the House and make life affordable for everyday Americans,&#8221; said DCCC spokesperson Viet Shelton.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House Democrats are demanding a reckoning after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent over $500,000 backing a candidate in Arizona who is on track to lose her primary. Why it matters: This is the third time in 2026 the House Democratic campaign arm has tried and failed to intervene in a party primary, leading some&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/on35RN_WTbOcVQ0SSU1GsvR6090=\/0x1388:4000x3638\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/22\/1784755561824.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}